Medicinal and anesthetic package



Feb. 9 1926, 1,572,323

A. E. SMITH V MEDICINAL AND ANJESTHETIC PACKAGE Filed Dec. 16. 1922 Fatented Feb. 9, ltl d.

uurrsn PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR E. SMITH, OF PITTSBURG, KANSAS, ASSIGNOR TO CLAUDE A. SMITH, 0F PITTSBURG, KANSAS.

MEDICINAL AND ANEESTHETIC PACKAGE.

Application filed December 16, 1922. Serial No. 607,392.

To all whom it M ay concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Crawford and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Medicinal and Anaesthetic Packages, of which the following is a specification.

As is set forth in my copending application Serial No. 607,391, it is important in the preparation of medicinal solutions to insure that the liquid used is absolutely sterile and pure; that the solution is fresh and uncontaminated and, in the case of nerve blocking work, that the solution is isotonic to the blood.

In nerve blocking work the solution is made up of distilled water, in which are dissolved the chlorides to make a Ringers solution, a vase-constricting ingredient such as suprarenin or adrenalin, and an anzesthetic such as novocain or anocain.

The importance of having the solution freshly made at the time it is used is Well recognized in the dental and medical professions and in the literature relating there- See, for example, page see of Prinzs textbook entitled Dental Materia Medica and Therapeutics, third. edition:

The practitioner is especially .cautioned in regard to the use of local anaesthetics in the form of ready made solutions. Solutions of cocain, even when rendered sterile by fractional sterilization, will not remain so after the contents of the bottle areexposed to the air for a short time. Ready made-solutions that are sold in the shops under more or less fanciful names require still greater precautions. The recently enacted pure food and drug act requires that all solutions containing cocain, eucain, and other similar alkaloids, must be labeled. Most of the many so called safe and reliable anaesthetics found on the market contain cocain or its substitute in various quantities. The addition of adrenalin to a ready made solution not only destroys this alkaloid in a very short time, but the product of its decomposition with the decomposed cocain makes the solution still more dangerous. The printed formulas that accompany many of the ready made solutlons of local anaesthetics frequent ly show an utter disregard of the pharmacologic action of the individual ingredients, which forces 'us to conclude that they are a slur on the intelligence of the practitioner who uses such compounds.

The importance of having the solutionisotonic to the blood may be appreciated when it is considered that if the solution is not isotonic (i. e. if the salts of the Ringers solution do not conform in quantity to the corresponding salts of the blood) the 0s motic pressure of the solution will be different from that of the surrounding tissues and will cause pathological changes in the blood and tissues that are highly undesirable. (See U. S. Patent 1,243,349 issued to me on the 16th day of October 1917.)

In the copending application I have stated that the invention consists of onclosing within any suitable container, any two or more substances one at least of which is liquid and separating one or more of the substances from the other or others, until the time of use arrives, by a fusible wall of a material which will retain its form and solidity under ordinary temperatures but may be melted at higher temperatures. When the time of use arrives this separating wall is melted by the application of heat and the contents of the package r container are mixed and the package is opened andits contents used.

The present application relates to a particular embodimentof the invention as disclosed in the accompanying drawing wherein Fig. 1 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in longitudinal section, of an ampuleembodying the invention, showing the liquid and non-liquid contents of the ampule separated by waterproof, fusible wall;

Fig. Qis a like view after the ampule has been subjected to heat to fuse the wall and the non-liquid contents have been dissolved in the liquid contents;

Fig. 3 is a View partly in side elevation and partly in section showing the ampule after its contents have been cooled to cause the material which previously formed the fusible wall to solidify; and

Fig. 4: is a View showing the small end of the ampule broken off to permit of the iniii.

scrtion if syringe.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing.

In carrying out the invention I employ a glass ampule 5, the glass of which should be free of alkali and may be of any suitable color. This ampule comprises a bodyportion 5, a neck extension 5' and a pointed end 5. One of the ingredients, designated 6, which may be in the form of tablets, as shown, or may be in the form of a powder or liquid, is placed within the neck extension 5 and is sealed therein by a plug of chemically pure paratlin 7. T he pure, sterile, distilled water 8, occupies the main body 5 of the ampule and is kept from contact with the non-liquid ingredient by the paratfin plug until the time of use arrives, at which time the ampule as a whole is placed in water in a sterilizer and boiled or is held under running hot water so that the temperature is raised to such a point as to fuse or melt the parallin plug, which then floats to the position illustrated in Fig. 2 and permits the tablets or powder or liquid, as the case may be, formerly contained within the neck extension, to be mixed with the distilled water. 7

The ampule is then turned to the position illustrated in Fig. 3 and plunged into a glass of cold water or held in cold running water or otherwise chilled which causes the paratlin to solidify, as indicated at 7". The ampule the needle of a hypodermic then inverted and its point 5 is broken off,

as illustrated in Fig. 4, to permit the intro duction of the needle of a hypodermic syringe for the purpose of withdrawing the contents therefrom.

While 'the invention is particularly usefnl in dental nerve blocking work it is not necessarily limited thereto but has a wide range of usefulness, for it provides means to enable any physician or dentist to easily and quickly prepare a solution which will have the advantage of being freshly prepared from fresh, sterile, distilled water, irrespective of what the particular material contained in the capsule may be.

It will be observed that the transition of the distilled water from the ampule to the hypodermic syringe is without the interposition of any other receptacle. Thus the chance of contamination of the anaesthetic solution is correspondingly reduced. It will further be observed that this result is accompanied by the provision of a freshly made solution and. if the non-liquid contents of the neck extension 5 consist'of sodium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, a verso-constricting ingredient such as suprarenin o-r adrenalin hydro-chloride, and an a aesthetic such as novocain or anocain, and if the chlorides are in proper proportion to the distilled water, as is contemplated, then there will be produced by this article, without intermediate handling, a solution which is isotonic to the blood, whichis freshly made and the base of which consists of distilled water of absolute purity; prepared under laboratory conditions and maintained in a vacuum from the time of its preparation to the time of its use. It is manifest that this results in giving to the professional man a solution that is absolutely safe and lVhile the invention is particularly useful in dental nerve blocking work as outlined above, it is by no means limited in its use fuliiess to that field and it is to be understood that it includes within its purview a container provided with a wall of fusible material which divides the container into two parts, one part of the container receiv ing one or more ingredients of the finished solution and the other part of the container receiving one or more of the remaining ingredients, the fusible wall serving to keep these ingredieiits separated until the time of use. For example, digitalis deteriorates quickly and the ampule of the present in,-

desirable from every standpoint.

venticn could be employed to receive in the larger part of its body the necessary amount of distilled water and in the smaller part, the necessary amount of digitalis, the two being separated by the fusible wall until the time of use. 7

Furthermore while all of the chlorides of Ringefis solution are desirable in the preparation of a true physiologic-isotonic solution, sodium chloride alone may be used but the results are not as satisfactory as when all the Ringer chlorides are employed.

\Vhile I have described the fusible wall as consisting of a material, such as parallin, which will separate out of the final solution, the invention includes any suitable material, whether it separates out or not. However, the parafiin has been found to be highly satisfactory and its use is contemplated.

Having described my invention what I claim is 1. A device of the character described consisting of a two part container, one of which parts contains a liquid ingredient and the other of which contains a non-liquid ingredient and a water-proof wall within the container and separating the said ingredients, said wall being of a material fusible at temperatures above normal but materially below the fusion point of the material of the container.

2. A sealed glass ampule divided into two compartments separated by a wall of waterproof material, one of said compartments containing sterile, distilled water and the other of said compartments containing an anaesthetic ingredient in non-liquid form, said Wall'being fusible under temperatures materially above normal but materially below the fusion point of the glass of the ampule.

3. A sealed glass ampule comprising a large body portion and a relatively smaller neck extension, a non-liquid anaesthetic in the neck extension, distilled water in the body portion and a plug of water-proof material at the juncture of the two compartments, said plug being fusible under tem peratures materially above normal but at temperatures materially below the fusion point of the ampule.

l. A sealed glass ampule comprising a large body portion and a relatively smaller neck extension, a non-liquid anaesthetic in the neck extension, distilled water in the body portion and a plug of chemically pure paraffin between the two compartments.

5. A sealed glass ampule comprising a neck-extension at one end and a pointed end at the other, said neck extension receiving an anaesthetic ingredient in non-liquid form and the body of the ampule receiving distilled water and a plug of a material fusible under temperatures materially above normal but at temperatures materially below the fusion point of the ampule, said plug separating the non-liquid anaesthetic from the water until the ampule is heated.

6. A glass ampule comprising a neck extension at one end and a pointed end at the other, said neck extension receiving an anaesthetic ingredient in non-liquid form and the body of the ampule receiving distilled water and a body of chemically pure paraffin separating the anaesthetic from the water, the material of the ampule being fused to hermetically seal the same.

7. A device of the character described consisting of a two part container, the compartments of which are separated from each other by a wall of material fusible at temperatures materially above normal but at temperatures materially below the fusion point of the material of the container.

8. A device of the character described consisting of a two compartment ampule and a fusible water-proof plug separating said compartments and meltable at temperatures materially below the fusion point of the material of the ampule, the two parts of the ampule containing ingredients both of which are non-miscible with the material of the plug.

9. A device of the character described consisting of a two part ampule and a fusible water-proof plug separating the two parts of-the ampule, the two parts of the ampule containing ingredients both of which are non-miscible with the plug and one at least of which is a liquid, the material of the plug being fusible at temperatures materially above normal but materially below the fusion point of the material of the ampule.

10. A sealed glass ampule comprising two compartments containing, respectively, two substances of which the mixture is unstable in composition, and a wall of material fusible at a temperature between and 100 degrees centigrade, separating said compartments.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ARTHUR E. SMITH. 

